My favorite version of
Rule Britannia was performed by the character Amyl Nitrite in the 1978 film directed by
Derek Jarman,
Jubilee.
Originally performed with regal and VERY serious pomp, this is a very
raucous and risqué version of the song. The actress who played Amyl was
Pamela Rooke, aka, Jordan.
The vocal was actually sung by an opera singer named Suzi Pinns with Rooke (Jordan, as Amyl Nitrite)
lip-syncing to it. Jordan/Pinns also sings the beautiful song,
Jerusalem, based on a poem by
William Blake from the preface to his epic
Milton: A Poem in Two Books.
movie trailer
Jubilee was one of my many "
Roxie" discoveries (
link below).
I clearly remember going to the theater at the end of the 70's, not
knowing what I was going to see but knowing I would see something new
and incredibly exciting. Once again, I would not be disappointed; I was
actually in for a whole world of new discoveries with this single film.
The title of the film refers to the
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977 (
link below).
When
Queen Elizabeth I
asks her court alchemist to show her
England in the future, she’s
transported 400 years to a
post-apocalyptic wasteland of roving girl
gangs, an all-powerful media mogul, fascistic police, scattered filth,
and twisted sex:
Britain in the era of
punk (
link to plot below).
detail photos of album back cover by Styrous®
I had never heard of
Brian Eno but as the film played I noticed his "ambient" pieces,
Slow Water and
Dover Beach
and was blown away; I will never forget hearing them for the first
time. I HAD to find out who it was by and what it was all about! Which I
did, of course.
Ambient music was something new to me; a whole new form of music I had
never even dreamed of. Still not knowing who or what the mudic was, I
found the soundtrack for
Jubilee and discovered a whole new world of music.
Slow Water (
YouTube link) turned out to be from an album Eno had released earlier in the year,
Music for Films, so, it was hot off the press, so to speak. That album was a mind opener to be sure (
YouTube links below).
I discovered two other performers on the soundtrack I came to like:
Adam Ant and the
proto-punk band
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs. Wayne County is now
Jayne County.
I was delighted to find there were favorites of mine I had already come to like that appeared in the film,
Toyah Willcox,
the Slits and
Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Richard O'Brien and
Nell Campbell (Little Nell) of
The Rocky Horror Picture Show had spots in it as well.
detail photo of album back cover by Styrous®
The film is heavily influenced by the 1970s
punk
aesthetic in its style and presentation. Shot in grainy colour, it is
largely plotless and episodic. It was shot in London
neighbourhoods that were economically depressed and/or still contained
large amounts of rubble from the
London Blitz. The film had critics in British punk circles. Fashion designer
Vivienne Westwood manufactured a
T-shirt on which was printed an "open letter" to Jarman denouncing the film and his misrepresentations of punk.
Jarman described the project as "a film about punk" during
pre-production, but later explained that it had a much broader thematic
scope. The film is now considered a
cult film classic.
There is a video of the complete film,
Jubilee, with Spanish sub-titles, on YouTube, however, it does tend to stop and get jerky at times (
link below).
detail photo of album back cover by Styrous®
~ ~ ~
Oh, yes, about
Thomas Arne. Between 1733 and 1776, He wrote music for about 90 stage works, including
plays,
masques,
pantomimes, and
opera. Many of his dramatic scores are now lost, probably in the disastrous fire at
Covent Garden in 1808. During this period Arne's operas and masques became increasingly popular, and he received the patronage of
Frederick, Prince of Wales, at whose country home,
Cliveden, the
Masque of Alfred, featuring
Rule Britannia, was debuted in 1740.
Arne's father and grandfather were both
upholsterers and both held office in the
Worshipful Company of Upholders of the
City of London. His grandfather fell on hard times and died in the
debtors' prison of Marshalsea.
His father earned enough money not only to rent 31 King Street, a large
house in Covent Garden, but also to have Arne educated at
Eton College.
But in later life, he too lost most of his money and had to supplement
his income by acting as a numberer of the boxes (ticket counter) at the
Drury Lane Theatre.
Arne was so keen on music that he smuggled a
spinet
into his room and, damping the sounds with his handkerchief, would
secretly practise during the night while the rest of the family slept.
He also dressed up as a liveryman in order to gain access to the gallery
of the
Italian Opera.
Arne was a
Freemason and because he was a
Catholic he never composed music for the
Church of England, unlike other leading English composers of his time. In 1769 Arne composed the song
Soft Flowing Avon, with lyrics by Garrick, for the
Shakespeare Jubilee held by Garrick in
Stratford-upon-Avon to commemorate the life of
William Shakespeare.
Arne died in 1777 and is buried at
St Paul's, Covent Garden,
London. A
blue plaque, unveiled in 1988, commemorates him at 31 King Street in
Covent Garden,
London.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 –
Adam and the Ants - Deutscher Girls, Producer – Guy Ford - 2:40
A2 –
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs* - Paranoia Paradise, Producer – Miles Copeland (2), Peter Crowley - 2:00
A3 – Chelsea (2) - Right To Work, Producer – Mark Perry, Miles Copeland (2) - 3:00
A4 – Maneaters Nine To Five - 2:41
A5 –
Adam and the Ants - Plastic Surgery, Producer – Danny Beckerman, Wil Malone - 4:35
Side 2:
B1 – Suzi Pinns - Rule Britannia, Producer – Danny Beckerman, Wil Malone - 2:50
B2 – Suzi Pinns - Jerusalem, Producer – Danny Beckerman, Wil Malone - 2:50
B3 – Amilcar - Wargasm In Pornotopia, Producer – Guy Ford - 4:00
B4 –
Brian Eno - Slow Water, Producer –
Brian Eno - 3:16
B5 –
Brian Eno - Dover Beach, Producer –
Brian Eno - 4:36
Companies, etc.
Produced For – E.G. Records (2)
Copyright (c) – E.G. Music Ltd.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – E.G. Music Ltd.
Published By – E.G. Music Ltd.
Published By – Javeberry Music
Published By – Step Forward Music
Lacquer Cut At – Master Room
Pressed By – Phonodisc Ltd.
Credits:
Film Director –
Derek Jarman
Photography By – Jean-Marc Prouveur, Johnny Rozsa
Producer – Megalovision
Notes:
Cover reads:
The Outrageous Soundtrack From The Motion Picture "Jubilee" Cert. X
A Megalovision film.
Custom picture labels:
Produced by Megalovision for E.G. Records.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, stamped): 2302079 A // 1 M
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, stamped): 2302079 B // 1 M
Various – Jubilee
Label: Polydor – 2302 079, E.G. Records (2) – 2302 079
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: UK
Released: 1978
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Soundtrack, New Wave, Punk, Minimal
Viewfinder links:
Adam & the Ants articles/mentions
Brian Eno articles/mentions
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_%E2%80%93_National_Portrait_Gallery_(unframed).jpg)
